I'm going to convert all of my MKV movie library over to MP4 with Handbrake so that it can be direct streamed on the Xbox One. Here are the Handbrake settings I'm planning to go with and I was curious if anyone had any feedback on these settings, as well as what they found to be optimal:
Picture:
Strict
No other changes
Filters:
No changes to default settings
Video:
Constant Quality: 17 (I could probably go up to 18, but figured I'd play it safe at 17)
No other changes
Audio:
DTS-HD converted to AC3 Passthru
DTS-HD kept as DTS-HD Passthru (I have a Sony NSZ-GT1 that can play DTS so figured I'd keep that audio stream for that box)
I've been using the "high profile" option with little to no additions/tweaks. I tried to use the "burn in subtitles" option so that movies like "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" could be watched, but for whatever reason the subtitles still didn't show. I'd love to know if anyone has been able to get that to work
I've been using the "high profile" option with little to no additions/tweaks. I tried to use the "burn in subtitles" option so that movies like "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" could be watched, but for whatever reason the subtitles still didn't show. I'd love to know if anyone has been able to get that to work
For all movies, I go to the subtitles tab and select Add Track and then change the drop down to Foreign Audio Scan, also enable Forced Only and Burn In. This will ensure that subtitles will show up only on the parts that the director wanted you to see them. I used this on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and it worked fine on that one.
For all movies, I go to the subtitles tab and select Add Track and then change the drop down to Foreign Audio Scan, also enable Forced Only and Burn In. This will ensure that subtitles will show up only on the parts that the director wanted you to see them. I used this on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and it worked fine on that one.
You are a Gentleman and a Scholar, good sir....I'll check this out tonight.
I've been using the "high profile" option with little to no additions/tweaks. I tried to use the "burn in subtitles" option so that movies like "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" could be watched, but for whatever reason the subtitles still didn't show. I'd love to know if anyone has been able to get that to work
I got so tired of dealing with subtitles that I just handle them on the from end. I rip to mkv, extract all english subs, and verify if there are any forced via BDSup2Sub. If none, I remux (just copy out) the movie and audio streams and abandon the subtitles altogether. If there are forced subs, I select the correct stream and used MKV tools (2 pass) to burn them in. No subs, but always forced subs. It takes a bit more time, but I figured I would never have to worry about the foreign audio search in Handbrake. It is actually a relatively new addition to Handbrake for BD's, but a welcome one.
EDIT: Crap, I forgot to mention, I have always used High Profile. Even when I was just using iTunes and AppleTV 3 before Plex. I do not know much about the settings, but the name makes it sound good!
For all movies, I go to the subtitles tab and select Add Track and then change the drop down to Foreign Audio Scan, also enable Forced Only and Burn In. This will ensure that subtitles will show up only on the parts that the director wanted you to see them. I used this on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and it worked fine on that one.
I tested this out on a chapter for Braveheart that I knew had subtitles in them (Chapter 13, I think). It worked like a charm! So my process now is to rip the blu-ray to mkv using MakeMKV, making sure to include the subtitles that are forced only.
After that's completed, I open the mkv in Handbrake, use the High Profile setting, and then add the subtitle track for Foreign Audio Scan, Forced Only and Burn In....and voila! Works like a champ!
I got so tired of dealing with subtitles that I just handle them on the from end. I rip to mkv, extract all english subs, and verify if there are any forced via BDSup2Sub. If none, I remux (just copy out) the movie and audio streams and abandon the subtitles altogether. If there are forced subs, I select the correct stream and used MKV tools (2 pass) to burn them in. No subs, but always forced subs. It takes a bit more time, but I figured I would never have to worry about the foreign audio search in Handbrake. It is actually a relatively new addition to Handbrake for BD's, but a welcome one.
EDIT: Crap, I forgot to mention, I have always used High Profile. Even when I was just using iTunes and AppleTV 3 before Plex. I do not know much about the settings, but the name makes it sound good!
Yeah, this is similar to the process I'm using now...only I use HandBrake as opposed to BDSup2Sub
I tested this out on a chapter for Braveheart that I knew had subtitles in them (Chapter 13, I think). It worked like a charm! So my process now is to rip the blu-ray to mkv using MakeMKV, making sure to include the subtitles that are forced only.
After that's completed, I open the mkv in Handbrake, use the High Profile setting, and then add the subtitle track for Foreign Audio Scan, Forced Only and Burn In....and voila! Works like a champ!
I WOULD NOT use handbrake to re-transcode to MP4. You will probably degrade much of your video collection and take way longer than you need.
Anything that is already h.264 (much of your MKVs) only need to be remuxed to an MP4 container. You can do this with ffmpeg in a batch/script file or you could use a tool such as Xmedia Recode.
ALWAYS remux if the video is 264 so you don't degrade the picture quality.
MP4 tools will do this, right? I know it has a gui, but I can be sort of simple. Your Audio has to be ac3, no? You cannot maintain dts ma or true hd, right? I’d certainly consider remuxing all of mine for direct play to Xbox one.
I don't know myself as I don't use it. I have a python script I use that will process a directory and anything under it. It will transcode anything already in x.264, will add an AAC audio track, pull subtiles from movie and create SRTs from them and will "web optimize" them if needed while updating meta data in the file. It's all based on using ffmpeg and does the equiv of using HandBrake in High profile mode with a quality of 20.
I then create a 720-3mbit version of the same file for streaming to clients on a "bandwidth budget" so I don't have to transcode to them (well far less often).
Whatever you end up with, just make sure the bitrate is less than 20Mbps or you’ll need to transcode to watch on the XBox. I use High Profie/4.1 CQ 18 for most everything.
Whatever you end up with, just make sure the bitrate is less than 20Mbps or you'll need to transcode to watch on the XBox. I use High Profie/4.1 CQ 18 for most everything.
I have heard this, but is it just a software limitation for now? Any reason we would not expect this ceiling to be lifted in the future?
Whatever you end up with, just make sure the bitrate is less than 20Mbps or you'll need to transcode to watch on the XBox. I use High Profie/4.1 CQ 18 for most everything.
I did notice that my encode with Constant Quality at 17 had a bitrate of 20.8 Mbps and Plex was transcoding the file. I'm re-encoding the movie at CQ 18 and will see if that keeps the Mbps below 20 and prevents the transcoding. Thanks for all the tips in this thread!
I agree that ripping to MKV and then handbreaking to m4v has caused a bit of video quality degradation...not enough to make me pull my remaining two hairs out, but still. On the plus side, I no longer have any issues watching the movies in Xbox One AND I've saved space on my Synology NAS. I know a lot of people have a tendency to say "just transcode" but the Synology NAS isn't meant to be a beefy transcoding powerhouse....and I'm willing to sacrifice slight video quality for not having any stuttering/buffering when I stream....
All that being said, just for the hell of it I want to try the remuxing option...both with Xmedia Record and the CQ 18 options...
